


//return; Hill Overlooking Town

by RomeoandAntoinette



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Friends to Lovers, Hostage Situations, Inspired by Silent Hill 2, Introspection, Love Confessions, M/M, Meta, Post-Canon, Psychological Horror, Rescue, Shadow Versions, halloween fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:35:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27210574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomeoandAntoinette/pseuds/RomeoandAntoinette
Summary: A year after Yu Narukami reluctantly leaves Inaba behind to return to school in Tokyo, he suddenly receives a strange letter from Yosuke in the mail asking him to return to town for a reunion with his friends. The gesture is sudden and uncharacteristic of his partner. Around the same time, all the texts Yu sends to his family and friends also go unanswered and all his phone calls go straight to voicemail. Sensing something is amiss, he boards the next train to Inaba to investigate Yosuke's letter and find out what has happened to his partner and the town that he calls home.
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke/Narukami Yu, Hanamura Yosuke/Seta Souji
Comments: 11
Kudos: 57
Collections: Pumpkin Spice and Everything Souyo (2020)





	1. Lost

**Author's Note:**

> This fic includes references to Silent Hill 2! There are many parallels to the game in the first chapter, however, they are purely Easter Eggs for those who have played both games. You don't need to have played Silent Hill 2 to enjoy this fic. After the first chapter, the stories completely diverge and have nothing in common other than the motifs/basic concept of the story, which again, will be altered to fit the P4 cast and characters.

_Yu,_

_I had a dream recently that you came back to town. You came back to Inaba to see me._

_When you left us months ago, you promised you would come back for us. For me. You still want to, right?_

_Everyone from our team is getting back together for a reunion. It is going to be a very special celebration, and it just wouldn’t be the same without our leader._

_Come to our ‘meeting place.’ The hill overlooking town. You remember how to get there, right?_

_We are all here, waiting for you._

_-Yosuke_

Yu read the letter repeatedly during the train ride. It was a bizarre artifact to receive in the mail. Yosuke, who texted in barely legible sentences, had sent him a traditionally crafted letter.

It wasn’t that Yu pegged Yosuke as some kind of lesser person who wasn’t refined enough to craft a letter. He wasn’t like that, and even more so, he knew _Yosuke_ wasn’t like that. Not once in their entire friendship had Yosuke, or any of his friends, reached out to him or sought his attention in the form of written correspondence.

It was…out of character.

It was so out of character, in fact, that it stirred a sense of urgency in his chest.

Perhaps that was why Yu had packed a bag right after school let out on Friday and hopped the next train to Inaba. He’d sent a message to his uncle saying he was stopping in but had received no reply. He'd also phoned a few times before leaving, and each time, the line rang for a minute before dumping him into voicemail. 

The young man didn’t think too much of that. After all, he was expected. Inaba was a small town, and although his caseload had lessened since the Investigation Team had solved the murders, he was still chief of an entire police department. It would have bothered him more if he hadn’t already grown close to his uncle during his previous year-long stay, where the other man had openly confided that he could come back any time and has given him a spare house key if he ever needed a home to return to.

Yu held that very key, small enough to fit on a chain, in his hand. He’d been gripping it like a stress ball the entire ride, warming the metal until it’s jagged edges burned against the skin of his palm.

He also trusted his partner to not lie to him, and that was enough to bolster his confidence in making the sudden trip.

Still, something gnawed at his brain. A small but painful sensation, like a blood-sucking tick, wouldn’t lease its grip.

“Yosuke…everyone…are you really waiting for me?” he wondered as he reread the words yet again. Even though the train cabin was uncharacteristically dark, he had no trouble making out the delicate script. By now, he had memorized every word.

The second he’d folded the note and placed it back in the safety of his jacket pocket, the train came to a screeching halt. The force of the sudden stop would have sent Yu careening into the floor if he hadn’t reached to grab the seat’s handrail at the last second.

The wobbling squeal of steel-on-steel lasted what felt like minutes before the locomotive finally came to a full stop. The lights flickered a few times before blowing out completely.

Slowly, apprehensively, Yu rose to his feet and peered out the window. Even though the fog was thick, he could tell from the lack of buildings or adjacent roads that they were still outside of town.

Great, he thought.

The young man decided to grab his back and hop off the train. There was nobody else in the car to talk to, and for the majority of the ride, he hadn’t heard a peep over the intercom. Sitting around wasn’t going to do much good, after all.

When he went to open the train’s door, he was surprised to find that it gave way easily and slide right open. Apparently, the train’s blown power had unlatched all the locked doors in addition to blowing the lights. While he was incredibly unhappy about the train’s rather sudden malfunction, at least he wasn’t trapped on board.

Slowly, he stepped out and surveyed the scenery. The same rolling plains and lush fields he’d seen on every other train ride were still present, but their fresh colors and crisp shapes were dulled by rolling clouds of fog that seemed to swirl about the train. It was like storm clouds had descended to Earth and were swirling about him.

Thankfully, there was a small road that ran parallel to the tracks. It stood to reason that if he followed the route in the same direction that they train had been travelling in that he’d eventually make it to Inaba.

“Looks like I’m walking,” he whispered under his breath.

So, he did.

About an hour later, he estimated that he’d walked a mile and some change. Along the way, he’d seen a few signs letting him know that Inaba was ahead, but there were still no inHe was able to see – albeit barely – some dark shape in the distance. A little way off the tracks, Yu made out a small gathering of rocks. No—not rocks…tombstones. The young woman was kneeling before a grave in a small cemetery. Had Inaba always had a cemetery? He’d never been before. Then again, the fog clouding the city was so thick that he couldn’t make heads or tails of where he was or even if there were any other roads around.

As he neared, he was able to deduce the mysterious shadow’s identity. After all, he could recognize those distinct, cherry cola pigtails anywhere.

“Rise?”

The name was almost foreign on his tongue.

He immediately started across the field to reach her.

“Rise!”

Slowly, he approached her small form, his steps softened by the grass. He reached out a lithe hand to stir her from her apparent daydream.

“Rise, what are you—”

He didn’t have the chance to finish his sentence.

The young woman whirled around with a terrified shriek, clutching the top of the gravestone for support.

Yu, just as startled as she was, jumped away and threw his hands up in the air.

“Sorry!” he cried. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Um, it’s me. Yu.”

It took a few moments, but her eyes did eventually light up with vague recognition. She leaned forward and squinted as if she was studying his features like the markings on a map. “Wait…senpai? Is that…really you?”

He blinked. That sure wasn’t the reply he’d been expecting. Who else could he have been? He knew the fog was thick, but he’d made out who she was all the way from across the tracks without an issue.

“Um…yeah,” he agreed, clearing his throat awkwardly. “I’m glad to see you.”

The young woman nodded, the gentlest of smiles gracing her face. “Y-Yeah. I’m glad to see you too, senpai. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you would be back so soon.”

The statement lured a frown to his face. Hadn’t she known about the letter that Yosuke had sent asking them to all have a reunion? There was no way his partner would have emitted her from a gathering like that.

Then again, Rise was often whisked away from the quiet little town to for concert tours and performances across the country and beyond. Perhaps she’d been absent for that occasion, hence her cluelessness as to Yu’s sudden appearance.

“Well, my goal was to meet you guys back in Inaba, but I’ve had my share of hiccups,” Yu said, taking another slow turn to examine the scenery around them. The swirl of fog was so opaque that the duo might as well have been at the bottom of a dark ocean. Trying to peer into the distance to get his bearings was no use. “The train stopped about a mile up. I’ve been walking for a while, and…now I’m a little lost.”

Rise reared her head back and stared. Her black eyes filled with emotion. It wasn’t confusion at his answer, more like surprise. Perhaps she was relieved that her friend was experiencing the same confusion she was.

However, when she opened her mouth, her tone didn’t convey confusion or any other sibling emotion.

“LOŚ͖̩͇̗̪T?”

The sound from her lips was like someone had poured sand into a gramophone.

The word echoed like a buzz saw in Yu’s brain. He reached for his head as if to grab his brain and wring it out like a washcloth. However, all he could manage was to grab a fistful of silver hair instead. He seethed at shut his eyes at the harsh sound.

Then, just as quickly as it materialized, it faded. Like it had never been there at all.

In fact, when he peered out from between his lashes to reorient his vision, Rise was staring at him quizzically. When he stumbled from weakness, she ran forward and clutched his shoulder to help him stand. “Senpai! Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Yu lied, straightening his back and breathing deeply. “Yes, I’m…fine.”

After a few more inhales and exhales, he rolled his shoulders back and straightened his posture. “But, yes. Like I was saying, I think I’m lost. But, if you’re here, that must mean I’m close to town after all.”

The young woman nodded but didn’t appear happy about her agreement. “Yes, Inaba is just up ahead. There’s only one road, after all.”

“That’s what I thought,” Yu said. “Thanks, Rise.”

Before he could budge, she shifted her grip to seize his wrist.

“You don’t seem well,” she commented.

“I’m fine,” he said.

The young woman was clearly unconvinced and continued to grip him tightly in her arms. “Yu, you should turn around and go back. I think you should stay away from Inaba.”

The request alone almost made him laugh.

“Stay away from Inaba?” he asked, his eyes flicking to meet hers. Slowly, steadily he successfully shifted weight fully back onto his feet. Then, he took a step back from her. “C’mon, Rise. Why would I do that? The whole reason I came back was to meet you and the others there. At least…that’s what Yosuke said in his letter.”

He only noticed by the end of his statement that Rise wasn’t paying attention to him. Instead, her eyes were bouncing around them, as if she was seeing or hearing things that he wasn’t privy to.

“Listen, Yu,” she started, the timbre of her voice deepening with seriousness. “Inaba. There’s something wrong with it.”

It was his turn to be unconvinced.

“Is it something dangerous?” Yu asked.

“Maybe,” Rise answered, her unsureness further punctuated with a shrug. There was a noticeable dichotomy to her logic, he noted. Despite being adamant that Yu start away from the town, she seemed strangely unsure about the actual level of danger ahead. That wasn't a great sign, considering how in the glory days of the Investigation Team, Rise's expertise was breaking down enemies and situation into digestible chunks of information that allowed the rest of the team to form strategies and plan around enemy weaknesses. Even if most of those abilities had been relegated to her Persona, she was no slouch in the realm of situational analysis, so her hesitation spoke leaps and bounds to the leader.

The young man crossed his arms and attempted to stare down the train tracks in the vague direction of the town. “But…we already saved the city. There was nothing else for us to do. Are you saying this isn’t just normal fog?”

“I don’t know,” she reiterated. His persistence seemed to be making her testy. “It’s hard to explain. I don’t know what it is, but with all this fog, it’s not…”

“Okay,” Yu intercepted quickly, sensing they were just on the cusp of an argument he had no desire to become involved in. Instead, he tried to diffuse her agitation with gentle words. “I’m going to look around. I’ll be careful, I promise.”

His words did little to assuage her concerns. In fact, she furrowed her brow at his tone.

“I’m not lying!” she asserted.

Yu turned back to her and shrugged his bag back over his shoulder. “No, I know you aren’t. I guess…I don’t really care if it’s dangerous or not.”

A defeated look crossed her face. She immediately pulled her arms back toward her body, crossing them over her chest. It was almost like she was trying to fend off a chill, but the thick fog was more humidly warm than it was icy. Actually, it looked more like she was hugging herself.

In that moment, she looked even lonelier than when he and the rest of the Investigation Team had first met her. She’d been working all alone in her grandmother’s tofu shop, and her candid disinterest in them had make their first encounter a tepid one at best. At the moment, Yu felt like he was interacting with the old Rise; a more quiet, artificially reserved person than the one he knew as a friend.

“Rise, are you—?”

His question was interrupted by the sound of the train whistle. Both teens turned back to the tracks to see the train lit up and ready to move again. After another blast of sound, they exchanged looks.

“Looks like your ride is working again,” she said.

Things were looking up already.

“Why don’t you come with me?” Yu asked her. “Let’s see what’s going on. I bet there’s…some kind of rational reason for everything.”

And if there wasn’t, he knew they were both competent enough to tackle whatever problems were ahead.

Rise, however, seemed unconvinced. “If you say so.”

Regardless of her apparent lack of enthusiasm, she still followed her friend back onto the train and sat beside him. Sure enough, right after they boarded, the vehicle lurched ahead and started forward again like nothing had ever happened.

After about half an hour, that train finally came to a stop at Inaba’s one station.

Yu grabbed his small bag from the overhead storage bar and exited the train. Rise followed him out, her steps small and light. Her hands remained clenched around her forearms, refusing to let go. Her palms scrubbed her sleeves with maddening repetition. 

“Are you cold,” Rise?” Yu finally asked. “Do you want my jacket?”

“N-No,” she said, trying to feign indifference, and sputtered a pathetic chuckle. “I’m okay. Thank you for offering though, senpai.”

He was unconvinced, but also wasn’t about to force his friend to do anything she didn’t want to. He made a mental note to check in later, and in the meantime, refocused on the task at hand. As the train inched closer to the platform, he immediately noticed the lack of crowds and people. That wasn't unusual for Inaba, but it was unusual to see nobody about at all. Even beyond the station, the streets looked completely vacant from afar.

For fun, he pulled out his cell phone and sent a text to his partner.

_> Just rolled in. Where are you?_

The message sent, and no quick reply was delivered. The messages he’d sent to his uncle were also still unanswered.

It seemed like the second they’d stepped onto the platform, the train peeled out of the station at a borderline unsafe speed. There had been no exchange of passengers or even a single announcement that the train had arrived. The train had stopped, let them off, and immediately left.

From his new vantage point, he could see that his earlier assessment was incorrect. There were, in fact, smatterings of people huddled close to buildings and a few others walking the streets. yet, despite the modest crowd, not a single one of them was recognizable. That struck him as odd, especially since Inaba was such a small town. In just one year, he’d come to know all its residents well. Even if he didn’t know their names, he knew their faces.

It was also strangely quiet. The lack of noise assaulted his ears, making him hyper-aware of their over footsteps of every measured breath in their lungs.

“What did I tell you?” Rise asked, stepping up so she was standing alongside him. “Strange, huh?”

As her voice trailed off, the cawing of crows echoed loudly overhead. The sound seemed to thrum through the city’s narrow streets, which spread out every which way from the station. The roads were like a web of bloody veins all threading back to a major organ.

“Everything just feels…wrong,” Rise said as she nudged his arm with her shoulder.

At this, he couldn’t help but agree.

“Is that why you left?” Yu asked.

She nodded. “I wanted to get to the new town over, but for some reason, I couldn’t call a cab and there were no buses. The train that dropped you off just now was the first one I’ve seen all day. So, I decided to book it on foot and…well, you saw how that turned out.”

“So that's how you ended up in the cemetery,” he concluded. “Well, that makes sense. Still, what were you doing there anyway?”

“I…I was…”

When she failed to offer an answer, he decided to not push her. “Well, we can talk about that later. For now, I think it’s best that we start looking around.”

She seemed relieved at both the change in topics and objectives. “Yeah. Good call.”

Yu reached into his pocket to check his phone again. No new messages. Sighing, he started forward until something silvery caught his attention. There was something unusually shiny sitting behind a cluster of vending machines located near the station’s restrooms (terrible location, in his opinion).

Upon further inspection, a long steel crowbar greeted him. Perhaps the maintenance worker kept it behind the old machines for convenience. 

Yu picked up the crowbar on instinct. “Safety first.”

Rise nodded. Having a 'weapon' on hand wasn't a bad idea, after all. “This fog is so dense. It makes it hard to see. It reminds me of the TV World…”

“…I’m assuming that you already tried to use the glasses Teddie gave us?” Yu asked. It was a total shot in the dark, but he decided to take it.

“Well, I would have, but…” she stammered, “This is the real world. Plus, I don’t have them on me. What about you?”

Yu bit the inside of his cheek. “I didn’t bring mine either.”

It would have been nostalgic if things weren’t so strange.

Just as they were about to advance up the road, Rise’s phone pinged with a notification. Amidst the quiet of the city, the sound was akin to a cannon blast. After a small start, she fished it from her pocket and flipped the screen up, then immediately furrowed her brow in confusion at the screen display.

“That’s weird,” Rise said. “My, um…GPS app just opened.”

That was strange, Yu agreed. In the distance, he heard an awkward shuffling that he assumed to be the wind rustling leaves.

“What’s even weirder is that…it’s showing us both on it,” she said. To clarify her point, she turned her phone around so that the display faced Yu. Sure enough, there were two red pins next to a larger, shoddily rendered 3D outline. Based on the block’s placement, it looked like it was supposed to represent the train station.

He squinted at the odd display. “Wait, how is it doing this? I mean, how does it know my location too?”

“I don’t—”

Both stopped talking as they simultaneously heard a crackling, deep moan from behind them. Then, to their horror, another icon flickered at the edge of the screen. This one was bright yellow and lingered menacingly at the edge of Rise’s small screen, seemingly taking a beat to watch the pair.

Then, it suddenly made a beeline right toward them.

Rise arced back, almost dropping her phone. “Yu—!”

The sound of static became uncomfortably loud and incredibly close. Like sand in a gramophone. 

Crowbar ready, Yu turned around with the intent of attacking whatever presence was trying to creep up on them. However, the attack arced through the air uninterrupted. The metallic edge hit the ground with a resounding clang between Yu’s feet. Had he missed? Wait, no – he realized – there was nothing there at all. Whatever had been running at them had seemingly vanished.

Breathless from the sudden physical exertion, Yu used the precious seconds afterward recorrecting his posture and also gathering his nerves. Stay calm, his brain repeated over and other. He’d been through plenty of strange circumstances before. This was nothing new – at least, not technically.

“Are you okay, Rise?” Yu asked after he’d stabilized his breathing enough to talk coherently. She, on the other hand, was still shivering so much that each word was a struggle. He wasn’t sure if it was from the terror or the seemingly selective cold that only seemed to be bothering her.

“I’m fine...” she stammered, then cleared her throat with a mighty swallow. “I mean, yes. I’m okay.”

Vice grip on the crowbar maintained, he swiveled his head around slowly to survey the area in front of them. Sure enough, whatever had attempted to sneak up on them was gone for now. All the while, the strange citizens continued to walk about and chat. Some seemed to not even notice the two teens were there, let alone lift a brow at one who was swinging a crowbar at nothing in the middle of the street. The moaning sound had also faded back into silence.

“Well, you’re right about something being wrong,” he said. “Let’s look around. It looks like the GPs on your phone has a working map, right? We can, um, use that to navigate the fog. It looks like it's picking up on other... _things_ besides us too."

While Yu and Rise could navigate Inaba's streets blindfolded after so many days and nights traversing them, the mysterious encounter predicted by Rise's phone earlier didn't instill much confidence about them about going in unprepared with just a measly crowbar as a defense. 

Thankfully, she seemed more than content with the idea of having a little extra aid. “I have a spare cell battery too. I always have a few for when I’m on tour and can’t plug it in an outlet for long periods of time. I guess I kind of fell into the habit.”

“Makes sense,” he replied. “Well, if you don’t mind…”

“Not at all,” she said, extending her arm down and forward so she would watch the display while walking. "I’m just happy to not be alone anymore.”

He agreed wholeheartedly with that sentiment. “Me too.”

Despite the temporary sense of joy he felt, a turbulent storm plagued the back of his brain, making dendrites and neurons crackle like lightning as he tried to puzzle out the bizarre scene before him. Clearly, the scenario that Yosuke had described in his letter was not reality. Was somebody impersonating him to lure Yu out? If so, why? As far as he was concerned, he left Inaba Shadow- and murderer-free, and in the capable hands of his strong friends that were more than capable of taking care of themselves. Plus, if something had gone awry, any of them could have called him. Hell, judging by the state of things at a glance, Dojima should have called him back immediately and either informed him of what was happening or advised his nephew to not come (which Yu wouldn’t have listened to anyway, but regardless). Dojima was more than prudent when it came to that type of communication. Raising a child had that effect.

The even worse possibility was that something had happened to everyone. Had someone forced Yosuke to write the letter? The thought made him queasy. Was he in trouble? Were his friends in trouble? 

The dark clouds spread to his heart, smothering his organ under he swore his heard blood roar in his ears. It was a sign of anxiety Yu recognized immediately, and despite knowing better, understood that he had to push it down.

Not right now, he thought. Hypotheticals were not important right now.

What really mattered was that he was here. He'd taken initiative and was set on finding his family and friends. Plus, he wasn't alone. He had someone in his corner to fight with him.

“Ready?” Rise asked as she stepped alongside him.

His fingers curled around the crowbar, the metal hot icy cold against his flushed hand. He was nervous, but again, pushed the feeling down.

“I’m ready," he lied. "Let’s go.”

With that, they vanished into the fog with nothing but whispers and the stare of bright yellow eyes following them.


	2. ←

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The year is 2012. Yu leaves for Tokyo in a few hours.

“You’re gonna come back to see me, right?”

Yu pauses, his fingertips freezing on the half-folded collar of his shirt. He slowly turns his gaze back to his partner, who is lying supine in the futon they’d shared not even hours before. Yosuke Hanamura, the Prince of Junes and founder of Inaba’s Investigation Team, is reclined lazily in a sea of hand-crocheted blankets and linen bedsheets.

It was their last night together before Yu left for Tokyo, and they’d celebrated it…accordingly.

“I’ll be back,” Yu promises, his voice weaker than he would have liked.

Yosuke smiles, but the gesture doesn’t pull at his eyes.

Yu sighs.

“You don’t believe me,” he says. It’s not a question.

Yosuke reciprocates by letting his anxiety evaporate through a loud exhale. It would have normally been perfectly fitting for his always over-the-top personality, but at that moment, Yu found everything about his partner to be unrecognizably subdued. The combination of afterglow and blue-tinted melancholy of reality feels downright somber, but in Yosuke’s deft hands, he manages to make nuclear fusion out of even the most mundane moments and make them more memorable…for better or worse.

At that moment, all Yu wants to do is lean back over him and shower him in promises and kisses that yes, he’s serious, he _really_ is going to come back.

“You know I can’t stay away for too long,” Yu says, reaching to brush a few strands from Yosuke’s eyes and back over his head. He pats the unruly locks down only for them to spring right back up again

There’s a pregnant pause before Yosuke opens his mouth again. It falls open soundlessly, as if the words died upon manifestation, but he snaps his jaw shut and shakes his head.

“It’s like…there’s this weird dissonance inside of me right now,” Yosuke laughs, humorlessly. “I don’t believe you, but I want to.”

Yu abandons the dressing mirror immediately. His knees hit the mattress first, and from there, he slowly covers Yosuke’s frame, feeling the sparsest of heat evaporating from his bed-warmed flesh. He leans over, broad shoulders covering his partner’s frame, and takes his freckled face between his hands. The gesture is reciprocated as Yosuke reaches up and cups Yu’s hands, thumbs caressing his knuckles in a maddening back-and-forth tempo that’s too quick to be soothing.

He also notices that Yosuke’s face is clammy, probably because the AC is blasting too much. Yu likes it cold, so it’s his fault, but Yosuke never complains. He never complains about anything Yu does…not really. They bicker here and there, but they’ve never really had any tectonic shifts that would count as legitimate arguments in the grand scheme of things.

The second Yu is over him, lips pressed to his temple as if he’s honoring an icon upon an altar, Yosuke chuckles again. “You’re not getting away with changing the subject that easily, you know.”

Yu stares back at him, definitely not laughing. In fact, in the darkness of the half of the bedroom untouched by the sparse light of dawn slotting through the blinds, his eyes look almost cold.

He can’t find the right words to reply.

“C’mon, man,” Yosuke groans into the silence. “You’re making all this feel so trivial.”

Yu’s eyelids soften, his vision drooping slightly. “I’m not…trying to.”

He really wasn’t. If Yu was honest, his emotional distance wasn’t any personal attack on Yosuke or his feelings toward him. It was more so the fact that, in preparation for leaving Inaba, Yu had carved out a comfortable spot in his own head to retreat until all the stress and peril of his departure had passed and he could just sink back into his bed in Tokyo. Until then, he wanted to hide behind his eyes, taking his time capturing all the precious moments of Yosuke he could and then memorizing them for later. The dark roots of his hair. His slightly turn-up nose. The way the bones in his collar jutted against his skin like knitting needles.

The separate pieces are nothing special to the average person, but they coalesce into an image that Yu never wants to forget.

“I promise…I promise I’ll be back,” Yu swears. Then, to try and lighten the mood, he laughs. “I mean, you don’t think I’d be able to stay away from my friends and family for long, do you?”

At this, Yosuke leans into Yu’s touch. Lips dance along the blueish veins in his wrist, gracing but never touching completely. “Please. Nanako wouldn’t let you stay away for long, and Chie and Kanji would beat your ass if you avoided visiting.”

An ash-colored brow quirks upward. “Well, that’s a little extreme. I guess I have a reason to keep up with my training regiments while I’m in Tokyo, huh?”

He nods in agreement, a teasing smirk causing his cheeks to dimple. “You better. I’m gonna quiz you when you come back.”

Another puff of laughter. “Oh, really?”

"Yep," he says. "The second you get off that train, you're fair game. I'll have Chie show me some moves, so as soon as you're back in town, you better watch out."

Yu rolls his head against Yosuke's chest, his face nestled comfortably beneath his partner's chin. There, he noses the velvety skin between Yosuke's neck and collar. "I'll be sure to be on the lookout for flying bicycle kicks."

Yu then blindly gropes for Yosuke's hand and, upon entwining their fingers lazily, lifts it so his thin fingers can lay flat across his heart. The pulse thrums beneath Yosuke’s fingertips. Yosuke drinks up each beat, curling his fingers ever so slightly into Yu’s flesh as if he is trying to root his fingertips into Yu’s body and channel his pulse.

“Okay, okay,” Yosuke acquiesces with a light smile. “You're in a joking mood about it, which ironically, means you're really serious...I believe you. You’ll come back.”

Yu takes Yosuke’s hand and kisses it. “You bet I will. We’re partners, after all. We can’t be apart for long. Defeats the purpose.”

The prince tosses his head back, and for a moment, the royal title fits his image to a T. “Listen to you, talking about ‘purpose.’ Please don’t get too philosophical on me while you’re gone.”

Yu frowns funnily as if Yosuke’s words were lemons he’d just bitten into. “That’s a shame. I’d already planned two dates for us for when I come back. One is a slam poetry contest and the other is—”

“Nooo,” he groans, laughing as his hands fly away from Yu’s face in over-dramatic distaste.

They share laughter. It’s soft, quiet – really nothing special. But it's something to cut through the darkness of impending dream, still creeping upon them like a storm cloud outside their window.

When their breathing finally steadies, it is Yosuke that breaks first.

“I...I love you, partner,” Yosuke whispers. His voice breaks in the middle, but the words or so saturated with sincerity and love that they practically ooze. His hands, for the first time, are warm as they find purchase along the planes of Yu’s back. 

Yu wants to say it back, but the words die on his tongue.

"Yu?"

The sound of the ticking clock is what causes him to shrink away from the embrace, his half of the affection unanswered.

“We have to go,” Yu says, and he hates himself immediately afterward, because ‘we’ really means ‘I’, and he feels too selfish to even shoulder than reality alone.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you ļ̵͝i̴͋ͅk̵̡̚e̵̝̎ this story. I'll be back with more chapters soon. Buh-bye for now!


End file.
